"Drown With the Monster"

*Front page photo by Piper Ferguson
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The velocity, intensity, and politics of "Drown With The Monster" don't make White Lung edgy. It's not particularly difficult to find fast, loud punk songs about outrunning one's demons and vices. But White Lung have outpaced their peers by approaching the edge of pure accessibility: Mish Way's chant-along, melodic yelps hit a rare nexus between confrontational and charismatic, the production's just slick enough to signify ambitions to reach a bigger audience (after all, this is their first single for Domino). Cut White Lung and they bleed black, the whiplash riffs and double-time beat harboring a not-so-secret affinity for AFI's gothed-out, melodic punk as much as hardcore. So basically, the monster never stood a chance.